Thar she goes! Irene caused much bluster, but spared lives locally

Tuesday

Aug 30, 2011 at 3:15 AMAug 30, 2011 at 10:15 AM

DOVER — Tropical Storm Irene left a lasting impression on the Tri-City and Seacoast area, causing city and town workers and residents to deal with closed roadways, numerous power outages, lack of water and substantial property damage.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

DOVER — Tropical Storm Irene left a lasting impression on the Tri-City and Seacoast area, causing city and town workers and residents to deal with closed roadways, numerous power outages, lack of water and substantial property damage.

But for all her trouble, very little personal injury was reported across the Granite State.

Power companies were telling the public on Monday it will take a number of days to restore power to some parts of New Hampshire since tens of thousands were affected.

Gov. John Lynch requested Monday the Federal Emergency Management Agency begin a preliminary damage assessment of all 10 New Hampshire counties in order to determine the state's eligibility for public, individual and small business assistance in the wake of Irene.

Some communities, including West Lebanon and Holderness, experienced flood damage, and there was significant damage to roads and bridges in northern communities, as well as damage to homes and businesses.

"It is important that FEMA assessment teams begin work as soon as possible to determine New Hampshire's eligibility for federal disaster relief," Lynch said.

By Monday night, thousands in the New Hampshire and Maine area were still without power, many of whom were told it would not be restored for a few days.

Throughout the Granite State, Public Service of New Hampshire was still reporting 72,351 customers without power by 5 p.m. Monday night.

Central Maine Power Company (CMP) reported 137,000 customers were still without power as of 5 p.m. Outages from Irene peaked at nearly 187,000 customer accounts around 9 p.m. Sunday night. The company estimates that nearly 280,000 customers lost service at some point during the storm.

DOVER

PSNH Communications Specialist Mike Skelton reported Monday evening that 5,700 Garrison City residents out of nearly 16,000 PSNH customers were still without power.

"Crews are focused on large circuits and transmission lines first and will then move toward neighborhood outages," Skelton said.

As thousands upon thousands of PSNH customers across the Granite State are without power as a result of the storm, Skelton said it could be days before restoration efforts are completed in Dover.

In the Garrison City, many roads remained closed Monday as Community Services crews worked to clear fallen branches and debris from Sunday's storm. As of noon, Cushing Street, Spur Road and Upper Factory Road were closed, while Littleworth Road, Fourth Street, Back Road, Piscataqua Road and French Cross Road each had one lane open.

According to Community Services Director Doug Steele, crews were working throughout Monday to clear debris from the roads and would most likely continue to do so today.

"Except for trees that came down on a few houses, we were spared relatively well," he said.

Steele said a contractor was brought in Sunday to pull trees off the houses, but some were still laying atop of residences Monday afternoon as the contractor made his way throughout the city.

For residents who have taken it upon themselves to remove fallen brush and debris, the Earle Goodwin Recycling Center on Mast Road will be open three additional days this week to accommodate the increased need for disposal.

In addition to being open Thursday and Saturday, the center will also be open on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The hours of operation for each day are from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For questions, contact the Community Services Department at 516-6450.

Steele said the majority of the post-tropical storm cleanup revolved around power outages, as wires were still down in many neighborhoods. The waste water treatment plant was running on generator power, something Steele said could last up to a couple of days. City wells, however, were not expected to have power until late Monday.

"We've notified PSNH that this is our priority," said Steele. At this point we've been able to keep up, but if the water supply becomes low at the tower on Garrison Hill, water pressure will be affected."

In order to avoid low water pressure, city officials have asked residents to conserve water by postponing the watering of lawns, not washing automobiles and running as little water as possible in kitchens and bathrooms.

The Garrison City was also faced with a vast area where power was still not restored on Monday. Intersection lights remained dim on Central Avenue at Locust Street, Oak Street at Broadway and Oak Street at Portland Avenue as vehicles took their turns going through the busy roadways.

However, Dover teachers were back in school on Monday, after administrators made the decision keep the school year schedule as planned.

"We're happy that we forged ahead with having teachers back (Monday)," said Superintendent Jean Briggs Badger. "I would say two-thirds had no power, including myself. We were there and it was a good idea to get the year started on time."

Briggs Badger said if the decision had included whether students should have returned, it would have been different. Students are scheduled to return to school on Wednesday.

FARMINGTON

Fire Chief Richard Fowler said Farmington fire officials fielded 33 storm-related calls Sunday, with the majority of those calls regarding downed wires and trees, many of which were blocking roadways.

The town opened an emergency shelter at the High School around 1 p.m. Sunday, but no one used it, Fowler said.

Monday, fire officials in town were working to check on trees that had been blocking roadways Sunday. While a number of roads were closed Sunday and early Monday. Fowler said he believes all town roads are now open, although some may be down to only one lane.

Interim Town Administrator Gary Stenhouse said the town's Public Works Department was out Monday working to clear debris from roadways and repair gravel roads damaged by rain.

"The public works crews will be engaged in cleanup operations for most of this week," Stenhouse said.

Stenhouse said some of the gravel roads in the town were partially washed out and that they would need to be regraded. Crews may also treat the repaired roads with calcium chloride to prepare them for the fall and winter's wet weather, he said.

The town is still keeping an eye on its brooks and streams as a precaution, but with good weather expected this week the waters should begin receding quickly.

While there was a large response during the storm, with police, fire, and public works departments fully staffed, and a lot of cleanup to do this week, Stenhouse said he does not think the effects of the storm will be too costly for the town.

"It looks like we're going to be able to do this using our own forces," he said. "Costs will be involved but I don't think it's going to be anything on the magnitude of the ice storm of December 2008."

He also said that since the governor requested a disaster declaration, which the president then granted, some of the costs of response and cleanup may be reimbursable through FEMA.

The town was still experiencing many power outages Monday, with 1,713 PSNH customers, 55 percent of the town's total PSNH customers, without power. Another 132 customers of New Hampshire Electrical Co-op were without power in town as well.

Due to the storm, the Farmington and Middleton School District pushed back the first day of school to Wednesday. Students in Grades 1-9 will begin school on Wednesday and Grades 10-12 return on Thursday, Sept. 1.

There will be no school Friday, Sept. 2, and Monday, Sept. 5 in observation of Labor Day, and pre-K and kindergarten begins on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

ROCHESTER

Public Works Director Melodie Esterberg said cleanup was going smoothly. During the storm Sunday, emergency personnel responded to numerous calls for trees and wires down in roadways, and a few calls for trees on homes.

Esterberg said that during the storm, public works crews primarily pushed downed trees to the side of roads to keep roadways clear and said crews would be going around Monday to pick up those trees.

Some roads, including Route 202 between Estes Road and Dry Hill Road, remained closed on Monday. The biggest issue in the city, Esterberg said, is power outages.

"There are still several areas throughout Rochester without power and we're anticipating that it's going to be a few days because of damage to the infrastructure," Esterberg said.

Areas of North Main Street were still without power Monday, including the lights at the intersection of Union and North Main streets and the Rochester District Court, which had a sign on its door reading, "Court closed. No power."

Esterberg said that in her 15 years in the city, she did not remember that area of town being without power for so long. As of 1 p.m. Monday, about a third of the city's PSNH customers, totaling 5,642 homes, were without power.

Despite power outages and debris to clean up, Esterberg managed to look on the bright side of the situation Monday.

"It could be worse," she said. "It could be snowing."

SOMERSWORTH

Somersworth did not report any issues with flooding. The Hilltop city still had two roads closed as of 1 p.m. Monday, including Second Street and Buffumsville Road. Both closures were due to low hanging or downed wires, as well as downed trees.

According to Police Capt. Russ Timmons, as of Monday at 9 a.m., 1,100 locations in Somersworth without power, while highway crews continued to remove debris with roadways around town. There have also been occasional reports of low hanging wires.

"Other than that, Irene is a memory," said Timmons.

BERWICK, Maine

Berwick Fire Chief Dennis Plante said there were no reported issues of flooding in Berwick to his knowledge. Plante also said that all the roads, also to his knowledge, were open and had remained open during the weekend's storm.

Central Maine Power was reporting 1,210 customers without power by 1 p.m. on Monday

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine

In South Berwick, Jewitt Avenue remained closed due to low hanging power lines. There were no issues with flooding in the area.

Central Maine Power was reporting 683 customers without power by 1 p.m. on Monday.

ROLLINSFORD

In Rollinsford, although flooding did not appear to be an issue, several streets still remain closed due to downed wires and trees, including Clement Road, Sligo Road, Heritage Drive and Howe Road.

Traffic lights at the corners of Oak Street and Old Rollinsford Road, as well as Oak Street and Portland Avenue are currently out of commission.

Rollinsford Police Chief Bob Ducharme said he estimated at least 1,000 residents were still without power Monday.

MILTON

Milton Fire Chief Nick Marique said emergency crews took about 50 calls due to the storm, most of which regarded trees and wires downed by heavy winds and rain. At least three trees fell on homes in town, although no injuries were reported and only minor to moderate damage was reported.

Marique said the Fire Department was staffed with about 20 firefighters during the storm.

There were no road washouts, and only a few road closures due to fallen trees and wires, including Route 125 at the Rochester town line, which remained closed into Monday morning.

While damage was minimal, as of Monday afternoon more than 97 percent of the town's PSNH customers, totaling 2,412 homes, were still without power.

Still, Marique said the storm could have been a lot worse.

"I think we made out better than expected," he said Monday, adding the department would be working to get their trucks back in order, resupplying any of the materials they used during Sunday's storm response, and doing a lot of paperwork.

"Trying to put all the paperwork together is the fun part," Marique said, laughing.

Marique also said that he does not think the response would be very costly for the department, since it usually plans for at least one big storm in its budget each year.

LEE

Officials there said they had "fared pretty well," according to Police Sgt. Tom Dronsfield.

"The town was staffed and prepared for the storm," he said. "There were no reported injuries or major property damage."

Only two road closures due to down wires, on Tuttle Road and Harvey Mill Road, were slowing drivers. On Monday, there were still more than 700 residents without power.

The Lee Police, Fire and Highway departments responded to calls of trees and wires down as they came in. All three departments were able to keep 90 percent of the roads open by clearing the trees either by hand, chain saws or a front end loader.

There were no issues with flooding and the shelter was available at the Public Safety Building, but not needed.

DURHAM

Durham town officials were reporting about 1,315 PSNH customers were still without power on Monday.

Durham roads that continued to be closed on Monday because of downed power lines included Longmarsh Road at Route 108, Bagdad Road at Sophie Lane, Packers Falls Road near the Newmarket town line, Packers Falls Road near Jenkins Road in Lee, Durham Point Road and Adams Point Road.

Residents with specific concerns about road closures should contact the Durham Department of Public Works at 868-5578. The Public Works Department is not able to remove downed trees that involve power lines, hence the reliance on PSNH.

Durham Fire Chief Corey Landry said one of the department's main focuses was checking that residents were safely using generators. Even a generator run a few feet away from a home can cause high levels of dangerous carbon monoxide.

Other local towns were also still experiencing significant outages Monday afternoon, with 3,069 PSNH customers without power in Barrington and 439 customers without power in New Durham. NHEC was also reporting significant outages Monday, with 574 customers without power in New Durham — a significant drop from Sunday when 1,174 customers, 100 percent of the town's NHEC users, were without power.

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